PIE IN THE SKY
With so many different GPS units available, offering a multitude of functions, we set ourselves a challenge to see how six options coped when a pie was the prize...
With a pie on offer for the first one to find it, how did six GPS devices fare in getting our testers to their porky prize?
With a bewildering amount of potential performance displays and data collection it can be confusing to work out what GPS unit to go for. Do you need full mapping, breadcrumb trails, no mapping, customisable data screens, GPS or GLONASS, Strava Live segments, training prompts, different upload/ download and connectivity protocols, ANT+ or Bluetooth? How much do you want your GPS to be a standalone setup or sync most of your pre-ride prep and post-ride analysis via a supporting smartphone app or computer program?
The results are baffling for even for proper data geeks, especially if things don’t work as you’re expecting or just don’t work full stop. A lot of the reviews you’ll find concentrate on the ‘smart’ stuff rather than how they actually work in the real world, which is why we decided to get down to the basics with our selection of six units with a proper practical test. The idea was simple – fellow rider Ryan and I rode and recorded separate routes using a mix of back roads and gravel trails from Ripley Castle just outside Harrogate to Kendall’s Butchers further up in Nidderdale. We uploaded the routes onto three GPS units each, before swapping over to see how we got on with each one and discover how quickly they got us to the pie shop to claim our porky prize.
The Stages Dash is a pure training computer without any real navigation features
Teething troubles
That was the idea anyway, but some of the GPS units had other ideas. The Stages Dash is a pure training computer without any real navigation features, so while it’s awesome at showing how you performed on the way to your destination, it can’t actually get you there. In contrast the OS Horizon should be all about immaculate cartography and guidance, but trying to set up and use it was a crushing catalogue of disasters. It struggles to upload maps and routes, but can’t tell you intuitively what it has or hasn’t reloaded. If you try and zoom out to get more than roughly 250m of mapping in detail it defaults to a blurred road atlas on a display that’s already hard to read. That meant I was
down to the Sigma ROX and the trusty Ordnance Survey map in my back pocket as my only reliable guide as I split off up a gravel climb just west of Ripley.
Ryan is having it easier as all three of his units - Lezyne’s Super GPS, Garmin 1030 and Wahoo Elemnt Bolt - have at least a breadcrumb routing facility and all three are pointing him up through the bluebells heading east on the route I’ve set. It’s the Garmin he naturally defaults to simply because the bigger colour screen is easier to use than the monochrome follow-the-dots displays of the other two.
While this showdown has been engineered to make significant differences clear, we’ve already been testing the units for a long time. So, it’s no surprise to me that the Sigma is dutifully laying down a dotted route
Ryan’s cunning plan catches me out while I’m wrapped up in my wattage information
for me to follow. The fact that Ryan has uploaded some cracking trash talk insults into the ‘route hints’ menu shouldn’t surprise me either. On the other side of the valley Ryan is having issues with the Lezyne working consistently under tree cover. The flashing ‘off course’ red of the Wahoo and the alarm of the Garmin 1030 put Ryan back on course as he overshoots a well-hidden sunken track down to a picture postcard bridge I’ve deliberately camouflaged as a turn back in his route.
Data driven
As I tap out the over-the-moorland top roads, I’ve got time to appreciate the multifaceted Quarq crank power and other performance information coming through from the Dash. The landscape format option makes it easier to digest more display cells simultaneously but whether that’s because it’s a novelty compared to the others or a genuine advantage is impossible to say.
Ryan’s cunning plan catches me out while I’m wrapped up in my wattage information, and after filtering me down a rough farm track beyond Pateley Bridge I’m left at a multi-split junction of tracks that the breadcrumb trail of the Sigma can’t provide any information on. The only solution is to whip out my trusty OS map and work out which is the correct track.
Down in the wooded valleys, Ryan’s still finding the Lezyne coverage a bit ‘spotty’. The Garmin’s touch screen isn’t the easiest to operate when trying to dodge big holes on riverside bridleway singletrack either. While it lacks the richer map context of the 1030, the Wahoo is more intuitive to operate via the bottom-of-the-screen buttons, and we’ve both enjoyed its flawless connectivity to a wide range of sensors and the ability to quickly focus on essential features by using the zoom function during our testing.
As I drop down into Pateley Bridge from the north and Ryan sneaks through the final bit of riverside path from the south, our run to the butchers has confirmed the ability of most of the units to keep us generally on track. That corresponds to largely positive
While it lacks the richer map context of the 1030, the Wahoo is more intuitive to operate
results during our months of testing too, but wider feedback is that the occasional glitches we’ve had with the Garmin are, if anything, under reporting it’s less than perfect reliability, especially on long rides. On the subject of longer rides, while the Dash’s cells have barely been bothered by the ride and the Sigma and Lezyne still show a healthy amount of battery life, both the Elemnt Bolt and - even more so - the 1030 chewed through a chunk of their runtime. This is concerning seeing as we’ve only been riding for a few hours.
Digesting the day
It’s something to chew over with our Kendall’s pie lunch, and post-ride analysis in the local tea shop concludes that while the best of the modern GPS units can keep you on track really well most of the time, they can’t be relied on all the time and certainly not on really long rides. They fall short of the best smartphone mapping apps in terms of everything but convenience (and battery life depending on unit/phone). At the risk of sounding like your granddad the only thing that’s guaranteed to get you to the pie prize every time is a traditional map and the ability to use it. The fact it’ll also double as an emergency blanket or even a retro Tour de France windbreaker down the front of your shirt are extra bonuses.